Delivery begins for first units of Raspberry Pi’s $35 Linux computer

The Raspberry Pi foundation has started to deliver the first units of its $35 …

The Raspberry Pi foundation has started shipping units of the much-anticipated $35 Linux computer. The organization has already started handing out the first units and conducting educational seminars with students.

The Raspberry Pi foundation was originally established with the goal of producing low-cost computers that students could use to learn computer programming. The project later attracted the interest of Linux users and embedded computing enthusiasts. The launch product is a bare board that is roughly the size of a deck of playing cards with a 700MHz ARM11 CPU and 256MB of RAM.

Faced with overwhelming demand for the product prior to the launch, the Raspberry Pi foundation decided earlier this year to transition to a licensed manufacturing model. They partnered with Premier Farnell and RS Components, hardware makers that are going to serve as retailers for the first batch of units and then take over manufacturing for all subsequent production.

Manufacturing on the first batch started in January, but completion was delayed due to an issue with one of the components. The first boards arrived in the UK at the end of March, but couldn’t be delivered right away due to compliance issues. The foundation finally announced on April 14 that deliveries have officially begun. A video that was published recently on the Raspberry Pi website shows founder Eben Upton hand-delivering a set of the $35 boards to RS Components. Consumers who ordered the board from RS and Farnell will reportedly receive updated delivery estimates soon.